How It Works
How It Works
Understanding the architecture, privacy model, and design philosophy of Contract Risk Scanner for Microsoft 365.
The short version
Contract Risk Scanner for Microsoft 365 is a Copilot agent that runs entirely inside your Microsoft 365 tenant. It uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to analyze contracts you provide and generates structured risk assessments.
No data ever leaves your tenant. No backend service. No external API.
What runs where
| Component | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| The agent definition | Your M365 tenant | Installed via the Marketplace |
| Contract files | Your tenant (OneDrive/SharePoint) | Never copied externally |
| AI processing | Microsoft 365 Copilot service | Same boundary as your other Copilot use |
| Risk rules | Built into the agent (or uploaded by you) | No external lookups |
| Outputs (CSV, JSON) | Your tenant | You decide where to save |
Why no backend?
This is intentional. By avoiding a backend service we:
- Eliminate data egress risk - Your contracts can’t leave your tenant if there’s nowhere external for them to go
- Simplify compliance - Your existing M365 compliance posture covers this agent
- Reduce attack surface - Nothing to breach, nothing to misconfigure
- Avoid vendor lock-in - You own all outputs; nothing depends on our infrastructure
The tradeoff is that we don’t store anything for you. Persistence (history, dashboards, portfolio views) is handled in your own systems, such as SharePoint, OneDrive, your CLM, or BI tools.
How analysis works
- You upload a contract or paste text into Copilot Chat
- The agent applies its built-in risk rules (or a custom risk register you provide)
- Copilot analyzes the contract against those rules
- Output is generated in a deterministic structure
- You download CSV/JSON exports or copy content to other tools
Each scan is independent. The agent does not remember previous scans within or across sessions - by design.
With or without a Copilot license
| Scenario | How it works |
|---|---|
| With Copilot license | Agent can access your M365 documents and SharePoint contracts directly. Full feature set. |
| Without Copilot license | Upload contracts as files in the chat. All analysis still works. |
This makes Contract Risk Scanner for Microsoft 365 accessible to teams whether or not they’ve rolled out Copilot broadly.
What the agent will NOT do
- ❌ Send your contracts to any external service
- ❌ Store your contracts after a session ends
- ❌ Train AI models on your data
- ❌ Provide legal advice
- ❌ Make signing decisions for you